


our plans, unraveled in the sand

by AoKise DaiKi (orphan_account)



Category: Kuroko no Basuke | Kuroko's Basketball
Genre: M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-09-19
Updated: 2020-09-19
Packaged: 2021-03-07 19:40:57
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,342
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/26533024
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/orphan_account/pseuds/AoKise%20DaiKi
Summary: one of the last drabbles i started and never finished. teiko days, relationships and character study, angst ig, slice of life, ambiguity.special notes and thanks at the end.
Relationships: Aomine Daiki/Kise Ryouta
Comments: 6
Kudos: 15





	our plans, unraveled in the sand

**Author's Note:**

> _what would you wish for, if you had one chance?_
> 
> can we pretend that airplanes in the nightsky are like shooting stars?  
> i could really use a wish right now, wish right now, wish right now. 

Because the badminton team _supposedly_ made reservations first, an inopportune hour-and-half of non-basketball practice forces itself upon them.

Diplomatic as usual, Akashi suggests they review course material. Midorima discreetly pushes his glasses up, Murasakibara chews up the end of a pocky stick, Nijimura shrugs, Kuroko gives a small nod, and Kise bites his lip. They drag their odd group out of the gym and spill into quickly emptying halls.

Akashi takes his place on one side of a bench adjacent to a row of faded baby blue lockers, leaving both his gym bag and backpack on the ground. Kise follows suit, which makes Midorima pull back. He quickly weighs the ideas of sitting with Akashi and ugh, _Kise_ vs being blond-free with the cold floor biting into his tailbone.

Nijimura drops into the spot.

Midorima sits on the floor with Kuroko and Murasakibara. 

But eight minutes in, Kise's leg starts conspicuously vibrating. The dull tapping noise of heel on tile breaks the quiet they have so miraculously managed to achieve. Midorima grinds his teeth quietly. It would have been fair to assume either Kise's bladder was in danger, Kise secretly had gotten some sort of adrenaline rush from the few sweets Murasakibara had ever so graciously decided to share, had it not been for the not-so-furtive glances his phone caught.

Midorima lasts barely a minute before he finally comes to terms with the fact he's not going to complete the studying he'd so naively planned out. He casts an imploring glance to Kise's left, because Akashi _has_ to have equally resigned frustration.

Right on cue, Akashi inclines his chin by slight degree and airily comments, "Something bothering you, Ryouta?"

At his name, Kise's head snaps up and his leg finally stills. He lets out a tiny cough, raising a fist over his mouth indifferently. "Hmmm? Nope! I'm Just a little jumpy, y'know, because... exams...and stuff."

"I see," Akashi says carefully, closing his binder and tucking it into the bag leaning against his foot. "Is there anything I can help with?" He offers a light smile.

Midorima wrinkles his nose. But Akashi's pleasantry seems to have served its purpose; Kise's shoulders lower and he casually tiptoes with, "You, ah, wouldn't happen to know where... _Aominecchi_ is, would you?"

 _Ah._ _They're in a fight._ Midorima deduces. _Aomine must've done something stupid again._

"He said to tell you he'd be late."

Kise's brow twitches. "Did he now." The words are not so much a question as they are a statement, just as the tone of mere curiosity is easily distinguished as plain irritation. 

Midorima is in no place to judge, but he's always felt the... _couple_ has some issues in the communication field. Kise with his tendency of falling from blurting out hard truths into merely smiling up sweet lies, and Aomine with his...stunted emotional sensitivity, and lack of perception and empathy. He feels this is a prime example on display.

Then again, he has to remind himself they had gotten together somehow. So, logically speaking, they should be able to get out of the little bumps in their relationship.

"Is there anything I can help you with?" Akashi repeats, still looking unperturbed. "I can speak with him to assure he'll show up to practice on time- I am the vice captain after all." Nijimura snorts silently. "Or we can talk to him together." He shrewdly omits the purpose.

"Thank you Akashicchi," Kise smiles tightly. "But when I plan on speaking to him again, it'll be to tell him we're done."

* * *

He's never been someone concerned with the lives of those who don't concern him, but the truth is they're teammates of an extraordinary team, and that means Shintarou has to deal with the overlap of their worlds; they all do.

He's still pretty sure Aomine will get his shit together and make it up to Kise. Even though it'd been a surprise originally, when Kise had beamed, had bounced up to the rest of them to inform, _aominecchi and i are dating!_ , the idea of Kise and Aomine, Aomine and Kise, has solidified so that it's hard to remember what it was like when they weren't. Even if Shintarou doesn't make it a particular effort to actively involve himself with them, it's been abundantly clear how much they care about each other. The two of them are something special. 

Shintarou doesn't see that fact changing; can't see them not working out whatever's wrong, when it's them.

* * *

the team falls apart.

( _it turns out he doesn't see a lot of things coming_ ).

so the team collapses in on itself. they pick themselves up alone, they walk away alone, they build themselves up, alone. they're older. things are different. hindsight is as the cliche goes. it's suddenly easy to see this was what they were always going to become but none of them had thought of it, to happily lulled with the present. 

(or maybe kise had already known, had known first, before the rest of them, and he'd moved accordingly. brave heart, preemptive strike.

but then again, what if...what if the distance that they were going to learn from him and take for their own was the self-fulfilling prophecy they've all just fallen for.

shintarou doesn't know.)

he's not sure what he's waiting for now. someone to save him? someone to save them? the strength to save himself? can you even call it waiting, when he's hardly living, ignoring the days rushing around him until a nicer time is no longer the distant future but what's wrapped around him.

* * *

he never asks but the coach shows the team a clip of the touou-kaijo match, just to know what their own inevitable game against one of the other big boys might look like. they're to conceive and discuss possible strategies next.

the results are about as expected: shintarou learns nothing new, except that even if aomine and kise ended up trying to make things work, they didn't manage it.

_maybe they didn't try hard enough._

no. no, that's not being fair.

( _shit. shit. shit. shit._ shintarou grates his teeth. he's frustrated, _pissed_ . when had he gotten so cynical. what's wrong with them, what's wrong with all of them. _fuck._ )

he's not allowed to level that judgement; it's not fair- it's not even true. people fall apart not because of each other or themselves- sometimes everything in your world is overwhelming all at once. it is impossible to demand anyone to stand their ground when they can no longer reach the bottom, when they're already being lifted off their feet, getting thrown down.

there's no shame in falling down; true shame is to not stand up again.

* * *

kuroko enters the stage and not alone; he has a partner's who's a fitting complement.

they're saved.

that's the melodramatic exaggeration storybook description. maybe in parts, it's correct.

what's he bitching about? they're _saved_.

* * *

just because he's grateful to kuroko and his new teammates for what they've done, doesn't mean he's suddenly a different person. you don't get to jump before the old and the new you and every version in between; you take bits and pieces from each of them and add them back to the person that you are.

so he won't keep tabs on aomine and kise, but if he hears a murmur from akashi and momoi every now and then, then that's no one's business but his. 

(he gets told that they're on 'better terms'.

if they wanted, the three of them could lay down their predictions, play a betting pool between the astute, the familiar, and the distant. they don't though, not out of a sense of respect, so much as it is because they don't think they could get it right. kuroko's demonstrated the future is unyielding, untouchable, that the wait's murder and defending yourself is a losing battle until it isn't. 

but more than that...they don't want to get it wrong.)

~~a happy ending's not too much to ask for, is it.~~

~~but we're not dumb enough to ask.~~

**Author's Note:**

> hey y'all.
> 
> decided to post this cause it was sitting in my sad set of drafts (originally i was going to put it where it belonged, in that drabble collection i had, but i thought this would be more efficient. i had some big plans for the other fics i had going on at the time but this is the easiest one i could finish and i wanted to finish it so that i'd get the chance to say, thank you.  
> thank you, to everyone, who made this fandom something really special. it's cliche but that's the truth. i could sit here for a year and i'd never be able to convey what you meant to me, how you touched me. i take a look at the present world of the fandom going on and i think, wow, the talent, the spirit! everyone is incredible. the community is as lovely as it ever was part of me wishes i could stay longer!  
> you've been absolutely wonderful and i wish you all the best, wherever you are.
> 
> i'm now officially in haikyuu hell. matsuhana and kuroken are great man but iwaoi fuck me up man aaah. if you're interested, hmu and i'll send you my accounts for the fandom. sort of a new adventure for us.
> 
> for ru (and roch and others) - to be honest i wrote this long ago and then i forgot about it; it's not really about real life aoki or fic aoki or either of the kiseki no sedai (if that's what you were wondering; i know i would. i say not really, because there are certainty some shared similarities but most of them are intentional. i'd tell you the intentional things to you directly if i could.) anyways, love you a hell lot. text me soon.


End file.
